Miscommunication in the air nearly caused a head-on crash on the Colorado runway last year, but tragedy was averted after a last-second maneuver by a JetBlue pilot that damaged the plane but caused no injuries.
“I hope they don’t hit us,” the captain of the Beechcraft B300 King Air said in the air as it descended toward Yampa Valley Airport’s Runway 10, where JetBlue’s Airbus A320 was preparing to take off. according to a report from the National Traffic Safety Board published this week.
The near-catastrophe report concludes a nearly two-year investigation by the NTSB into the Jan. 22, 2022, incident, during which JetBlue Airways Flight 1748 suffered substantial damage in a tail strike that avoided the collision.
The rear of the JetBlue plane slammed into the ground as it increased thrust and took off abruptly from the runway as the King Air plane approached to within just 2.2 nautical miles of the airport, video shows, Fox Business reported.
Video shows the tail of the JetBlue plane hitting the ground as it attempted to quickly take off. fox business
Both planes had coordinated their flight plans with the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC), since the Yampa Valley Airport does not have its own air traffic control, according to the report.
The Universal Communications Frequency (UNICOM) operator warned both planes about “multiple aircraft” in the skies around the airport.
However, JetBlue believed that King Air was much further away, about “8 or 9 miles away,” and was going to land on Runway 10 behind them and decided to proceed with the takeoff.
In communications, King Air mentioned both “runway 10” and “runway 28,” but the plane was actually intended to land on the runway in front of JetBlue.
“Approximately 20 seconds after JetBlue began its takeoff on Runway 10, the King Air flight crew asked JetBlue if they were going to make a quick diversion, to which they responded, ‘yes sir,'” the report said. the NTSB. .
A communications failure caused a near head-on collision between planes in Colorado last year, the NTSB found. NTSB/X Newsroom
“At the same time as this conversation, the JetBlue captain pitched the airplane upward, 24 knots before rotation speed, to prevent the approaching King Air and subsequently struck the tail of the airplane against the runway surface,” he said. the agency.
The report found that the captain raised the plane’s nose faster than normal “due to his surprise at encountering head-on landing traffic.”
The JetBlue plane took off and quickly turned right in mid-air to get out of the way of traffic.
After the tail strike, the JetBlue crew continued their departure toward Fort Lauderdale, Florida, before finally confirming the incident at about 16,000 feet.
After climbing approximately another 10,000 feet, they were ordered to land immediately so the plane could be inspected for damage and diverted to Denver.
The plane suffered “substantial” damage and no injuries were reported.
The NTSB determined that the incident was the result of poor communication.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn